Green Lakes State Park
Beaver Lake Nature Center

Saturday morning, although a little chilly, was a great time to be out exploring a few of the parks around Syracuse. I was looking for autumn color and I was not disappointed. I started my day before sunrise at Green Lakes State Park. I was fascinated as the fog moved across the water and decided I would capture a very early morning image. I had a hard time choosing between this view and one with the entire stretch of fog illuminated by headlights from the parking lot. This one won as the headlight illumination highlighted a pole in the fog I thought was distracting.

Untypical of me, I ran into three other photographers exploring the sunrise at Green Lakes and ended up shooting with them for a while as the sun slowly brought the trees across the lake into the morning view. All three were from Rochester and although sharing their Instagram accounts will definitely distract you from my work, they are worth a peek if you love amazing landscape photography.

James Blundell
Joe Serio
Gidelle Wilson

The second image at Green Lakes is about forty-five minutes after sunrise. The sun was still working its way above the tree line. You can see some lingering fog on the water in the shadows of the horizon. Looking closely you could spot some geese still enjoying the quiet morning. I wasn’t ready or practiced enough to capture any of the geese as they started to take flight. Believe me, I tried, but I will need more practice.

After leaving Green Lakes I drove up to Beaver Lake Nature Center. This was a last minute decision so I had not explored the area before arriving to ensure the trails available would provide sunrise views but the walking would still do me some good. As I was pulling into the parking area I spotted Scott Thomas and his wife. Scott is a local Syracuse photographer, fellow Disney fan and the photographer for the Syracuse Crunch hockey team. Scott encourage me a lot as I started out on this photography journey. Definitely check out his work…

I got lucky, plenty of views for me to photograph. This is a look at the peninsula at the end of the Bog Trail from the short Lake View Trail viewing area. You can see a great variety of color in the leaves but look closely at the distant shoreline. Most of the trees along that edge of the lake have dropped their leaves. I hate to say it this early in the season but I feel like winter is coming…

Mist on the Water
Green Lakes State Park
Olympus E-M1 Mark III, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 4s, 12mm, f/2.8, ISO 400

The Early Morning Glow
Green Lakes State Park
Olympus E-M1 Mark III, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 1/25s, 15mm, f/11, ISO 200

Lean Into It
Beaver Lake Nature Center
Olympus E-M1 Mark III, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 1/200s, 13mm, f/11, ISO 200